As mentioned before, there can be many reasons for consulting a psychoanalyst, ranging from crisis, pain, fear, loss, depression, compulsion or addiction, etc. to recurring problems with oneself and others. Especially if we feel stuck and unable to make any progress, despite our own intense efforts, it can be helpful to talk to a psychoanalyst to find out why we have arrived in this situation and how we can get out of it – and perhaps give our lives a new direction.
Psychoanalysis as therapeutic method
Psychoanalysis is an extremely beneficial therapeutic method to achieve this goal, insofar as fears or undesirable thoughts as well as ambivalent or repressed feelings (which may manifest also e. g. in dreams or slips of the tongue) can be brought to the fore and made conscious through free association.
In order to develop a psychoanalytic conversation, it is essential to have a protected space – this means that nothing of what is said should be revealed to outsiders, which is guaranteed by the psychoanalyst’s duty of confidentiality. The result is a space in which to understand the individual pain, fear and symptoms while strengthening and encouraging feelings, insights or memories. This helps to recognise the connection between current suffering and the unconscious reasons for it, whereby corresponding conflicts can be made conscious and new solutions found for dealing with oneself and others. Experience has shown that psychoanalytic conversation is very suitable for adults and adolescents; for smaller children, playing games or drawing pictures has also proven to be therapeutically helpful in addition to a ,talking cure‘.
Sessions and appointments
Another important condition for the success of psychoanalysis is the arrangement of appointments which, in accordance with the tradition of Jacques Lacan, are open in terms of duration according to individual need. The frequency of the sessions is also variable and can range from once, twice or three times a week to once every other week. Short-term arrangements or one-time conversations are also possible.
Desire and ethic
For a successful psychoanalytic process, however, the most important thing is a readiness to come to terms with one’s own situation, which is ultimately always related to one’s own desire. This desire, which is mostly unconscious (and which should therefore not be confused with one’s intentions), can be made conscious through psychoanalytic work.
Insofar as psychoanalysis is aimed at becoming conscious of our repressed desire, it can even be described as a form of ethic (Lacan, Séminaire VII, 1959-1960) – for it is precisely our desire that contributes to the uniqueness of every human being, which includes taking responsibility for it. Therefore, the goal of psychoanalysis is to help us understand the unique history of our subject formation so that one’s own desire can be better lived in the present.